Again?

Yes I know...two post in one day? Don't I have anything better to do? Well, yes, but this post is for a very good reason.....

I GOT A JOB!!

Granted, it's not totally my "dream job" of working in labor and delivery, but it's the next closest thing to it.

I will be working 11pm-7am four nights a week at Methodist Medical Center on the Postpartum/Nursery unit. I am totally thrilled to be able to take care of those brand new mamma's and babies!!

Waffles for breakfast, lunch, and dinner

Last night Luke came home with a huge box. Surprise! He had boughten me a waffle iron! We did register for one before we got married, but took it back. I wanted one with little squares, not the Belgian waffle irons. We never did find one, so we just kinda gave up. Anyway, he found one on the internet and ordered it for me! I am so excited to make waffles!

Thanks babe!

I love you baby!

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I wish...

That I was a "cheap" person. See, I have this character flaw:
I love food,
clothes,
eating out,
vacations,
weekend trips
and pretty much anything else that costs money.

I try to be frugal, I really do, but I fail marvelously every time!
Especially when at the grocery store or Walmart.
When we were engaged, I asked a married friend how much she budgeted for groceries each week.
"$50" she replied.
$50? I can do that. In fact, I could probably do better than that.
Yeah right.

I've read the books, done the coupon clipping, even tried just carrying cash. None of it has worked.
So now I am asking my faithful readers to give me their hints on cheaper vacations, shopping trips, eating out, and grocery store tips. Is it just a mindset? self-discipline? only going to the grocery store on a very full stomach? Seriously, I'd like some help with this one.

Cake

Elise came over last night (since our husbands were out gallivanting around-just kidding, they went to guys Bible study). We needed a pre-movie snack (not to be confused with the intra-movie and post-movie snacks), and I immediately thought of Amy's chocolate mug cake. We whipped up 2 mugs of it.

It was...interesting. Tasted good, but had the texture of a sponge. Not joking. Needed extra sugar, frosting, or whipped cream, and hardened to a point to hard to eat within half an hour. On the positive side though, you got the chocolate cake craving fulfilled, and it only takes 5 minutes! It's definitely something I will be experimenting with in the future. Here's the recipe in case you are in the mood.

Chocolate Mug Cake:
4 tbl flour 4 tbl sugar
2 tbl baking cocoa 1 egg
3 tbl milk 3 tbl oil
3 tbl chocolate chips (optional)
teeny tiny bit of vanilla
Mix dry ingredients, mix in egg, add milk, oil and vanilla, and choc chips if you so choose. Microwave for 3 minutes. The cake will rise over the top of the cup, but that's normal. Take out, dump on a plate, and enjoy right away for best results

As a side note: My dear husband brought home stuffed crust pizza last night for dinner...just because. I was excited to eat it then, and I'm excited to eat it again for lunch. Thanks baby!!

A Party

I'm a girl, and everyone knows that most girls like to dress up. Which is why I came up with the brilliant idea of having a costume part on Halloween (hey, I had 5 hours in cardiac cath yesterday to come up with all the details).

We could have fun, scary looking food. I could even grab some gloves from the hospital and put water in them and freeze them for icy hands. :)

And of course, everyone would have to dress up in fun, creative costumes and during the party, we'd all guess who was what.

I even came up with most brilliant of brilliants costume idea (please keep in mind that I was in cardiac for the day): Luke can be a cop, I could be a heart (like inside the body heart), and together we could be.....(drum roll please)....
Cardiac Arrest

I thought it was brilliant. Luke said I had too much time on my hands. I guess there will be no costume party.

Still Waiting

I know patience isn't one of my strong points, and it's definitely being tested right now.

I'm done interviewing at my two top hospitals, and now I'm waiting for a phone call either offering me a job, or saying "sorry, you weren't chosen for this position."

I'm hoping and praying to find something out this week. My future is on the line!!

Trip Down Memory Lane

I had a flash back while I was at my mom's yesterday doing applesauce (6 bushels of apples, 6 hours, 5 adults, 7 kids, 115 containers...also see Wendi's blog). Anyway, in the midst of all that, Wendi made cookies, and I had to think back to that one very memorable cookie baking experience...

It was May 2006 (or possibly June) and school was out for the summer. It was beautiful summer evening, but I (along with my siblings) was bored. Jenny was also bored, so she came over. Sometime during the evening, we decided to make cookies to take over to my future husband because he had just purchased our future first home (yes, it's kind of weird to think about now).

We pre-heated the oven, and happily mixed everything up. When I placed the cookies in the oven, it was smoking a lot, which wasn't uncommon for oven to do. What I didn't realize was that that day, my mom had baked a cheesecake, and some of the butter had dripped out of the spring form pan.

While baking, a burnt smell, and smoke began to come roll from the oven. I opened the oven door, only to discover that the butter on the bottom of the oven was on fire. The smoke detectors started going off, and everyone was shouting something at once. Jenny asked for a fire extinguisher. I thought we had one, but nobody knew where. So I grabbed a cup of water, and threw it in the oven. The fire was extinguished.

The cookies were a little burnt on the bottom, and tasted a little smoky, but weren't too bad for all they'd been through. We weren't able to turn the smoke detectors off because they were too high up.

My parents arrived home 15 minutes after the drama to find 5 sheepish looking people, a house filled with smoke, all the windows open, and the smoke detectors screeching.

Tagged

Well, Abby tagged me. Personally, this reminds of email forwards. Everybody jumps on at first, and then it slowly dies out and becomes totally uncool to do. But since it's the "cool" thing to do for know, I'm playing along. Here are my 7 random and/or weird facts.

1. I am in love with strawberry toaster strudels. I eat them pretty much every morning for breakfast.
2. When I pluck my eyebrows, I like to sit on the bathroom counter with my feet in the sink and my face like 2 inches from the mirror. (and yes, I do get teased about this)
3. I am NOT...let me repeat, NOT a morning person. Which doesn't go too well with nursing school since everything starts by 6:45am. I think I'll be just fine working nights. If you do ever have to wake me up early, I suggest doing it very gently (right hon?)
4. I have a love-hate relationship with shopping. I love it, and at the same time hate it, because I can never find just what I want, and I spend way too much money.
5. I love kids and my perfect number is 7- 4 boys and 3 girls (and yes, I do know I can't pick things like my children's gender). I still have to convince my husband that 7 kids would be blast.
6. I love to cook. I sometimes spend hours making dinner. At the same time, I also love to feed people. I am definetly one of those people who tries to shove food down your throat. "Would you like more potatoes? We have plenty of them. Here, I'll dish some up for you."
7. I love nursing, and everything about nursing. My dream job is work on labor and delivery, but nursery or postpartum would work too. I've gone through 4 years of school to work on OB. It's the only thing I've ever wanted to do. (and I'll still holding out for an OB job offer, I'll let you know how that goes).

So there are my 7 things. I'm now tagging Jenny, Marcy, Kaitlyn, Wendi, and Nancy

The Why's of Walmart

-Why is there never a close parking space when I come into Walmart, but when I leave, they're all open?

- Why is it usually raining on the day I need to go to the store?

- Why do I always have to suddenly pee really bad as soon as I walk in the store?

- Why is the Subway always baking fresh bread when I walk in (or out)?

- Why is the line I'm in always the one that goes the slowest?

- Why do I never look at my receipt and think "Yeah, that's about the right amount for the groceries I bought." Why is it always so much more?!

- Why is my cart almost always the squeaky one, the one who's wheels don't work quite right, or the one that shocks me at random intervals (long story)?

Just wondering.

It's going to be a long winter

It's 67.8 degrees in our house right now, and I'm freezing. How will I ever survive the days of a 62 degree home??!!

Last winter, my husband came up with a brilliant solution to getting me out of bed on time, since I usually refused to get up because it was too cold. We got a little space heater and a timer, and timed the heater to begin running about 1/2 hour before I had to get up. Tada! A nice toasty bathroom to greet me in the mornings.

I love that man and the random things he thinks up to keep me warm. :)

A lovely time

Heidi S. and I just finished dancing to the entire "Drop it with Dance" dvd.
A 45 minutes fat blasting workout
(or so it claims).

Whew...it blasted something!
Thanks for coming over, Heidi!